Ethical and Christian Decision-Making ORACLE

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Ethical and Christian Decision Making
Oracle Corporation is a reputable company that had an outstanding performance history until 2009 (Grant 1). Since then, the company has experienced a series of financial and economic deterioration that has crippled its operations. According to Grant, the company’s poor performance is attributed to a series of poor decisions pertaining to customer involvement and pricing strategies among others (1). To begin with the company has a strict decision making policy that bars customers from participating in its decisions or any involvement in its research and strategy formulation. Secondly, the company employs poor pricing strategies, based on a ‘take it or leave it’ mantra. This has led to poor customer satisfaction over the years, plunging the company revenue by 8% year-on-year. (Hill 1).
Although a majority of the company’s top-level management would dispute it, the non-involvement policy, in some way, attracts ethical concerns in the form of motivated blindness. According to Bazerman and Tenbrunsel, motivated blindness occurs where an organization’s decision makers openly choose to focus on the benefits entailed in a decision/policy without regard to its ethical repercussions (5). There are a number of benefits that the company reaps from failing to involve its customers in decision making such as quick decision making, lack of scrutiny among others. However, as key players in the company’s functioning, it would be fair to seek input from the customers, no matter the cost involved.

The company’s poor pricing strategy can be categorized as an ill-conceived plan. According to Bazerman and Tenbrunsel, sometimes a company’s managers may employ goals and force them upon its employees without caring for the mechanisms they would employ to achieve it (4). The result is a series of unethical decisions made with an aim of achieving the set targets. Oracle Corporation has a policy highly focused on sales rather than profit, which, in turn, forces the employees to use unfair pricing strategies on the company’s customers.
As a leader, there are two key strategies that I can employ to stop the effects of ill-conceived goals and motivated blindness. First, I would push for an agenda that focuses more on overall profitability than sales margins and deadlines. To achieve this, I would help create a focus group that comprises of innovative employees who can brainstorm and develop creative strategies that boost profit margins. This would help save employees from the pressures of poorly conceived goals, pushing them to employ unethical methods. Secondly, as a manager, I would encourage the formulation of customer involvement channels through which the organization can get feedback on customer problems, needs, and suggestions.
Although exposing the organization to the customers may open doors to a number of potential issues such as delays, scrutiny and confidentiality risks, my resolutions are guided by the professional ethics code of transparency and religious guidelines. According to Proverbs, a leader should make well-informed decisions that are unwavering, irrespective of the consequences (New International Version, Prov. 4.15). This motivates me in making unbiased suggestions and decisions for organizational improvement in the long run.

Works Cited
Bazerman, Max H., and Ann E. Tenbrunsel. “Ethical breakdowns.” Harvard Business Review 89.4 (2011): 58-65.
Grant, Nico. “Oracle Plunges the Most in Six Years.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 19 Mar. 2018, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/oracle-s-new-licenses-sales-drop-while-revenue-meets-estimates.
Hill, Rebecca. “Oracle UK’s Profits Have More than Halved.” The Register® – Biting the Hand That Feeds IT, The Register, 8 Mar. 2018, www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/08/oracle_uks_revenues_profits_turnover_down_in_2017/.
New International Version. Biblica, 2011.  BibleGateway.com, www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/#booklist.